Get It In Writing

Increase the odds of reaching your goal through the simple act of writing your goal down

Goal setting is the key element to success. Whenever you meet someone who has accomplished anything of significance, it is highly likely they set a goal and reached it. Goal setting is among the most misunderstood areas of success. For a goal to be valid, it must be out of your current reach but still realistic, and a goal must have a date on it.

You can increase the odds of reaching your goal by 42 percent through the simple act of writing your goal down. In our society, there are three levels of commitment. The lowest level is simply telling someone what you are going to do. The next level of commitment involves writing it down, and the highest level of commitment requires you to write your goal down and sign it.

Just because someone said something doesn’t always mean it’s going to happen. We live in a world that when it’s all said and done, there’s a lot said and very little done; but when you get something in writing, it denotes a serious understanding, and we all know when we attach our signature to something, we have made a commitment.

Many people avoid setting goals because they have failed to reach the goals they have set in the past. These people need to consider whether they’ve ever eaten a bad meal, taken a bad flight, or gone to a bad show. Obviously, it doesn’t mean they won’t eat, travel, or go to shows in the future. If we fail to reach our goal, we need to turn that failure into fertilizer for our next attempt. We need to determine whether the bar was set too high, the time was too short, or some unexpected factor intervened which kept us from reaching our objective.

Most goals are reached after several failed attempts. The great mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary organized many expeditions to scale Mount Everest that failed. He funded his subsequent expeditions by giving speeches around the world. During these speeches, he would stand in front of a giant photo of Mount Everest. He would assure his audiences that he would succeed in becoming the first man to climb the tallest mountain on earth. Then as he concluded his remarks, he would turn to the image of the mountain behind him and say, “I will reach my goal because you can’t get any bigger, and I can.”

If you are contemplating setting a goal in an area where you have failed in the past, please remember you’re not the same person today that you were then. You don’t fail until you quit trying.

As a blind person myself, I still believe I could get a hit off the best pitcher in the Major Leagues if you will allow me to alter just one of the rules of baseball. If I can have as many strikes as I want, and I’m not called out until I give up, I will eventually and invariably get a hit in much the same way that you will reach your goals if you just keep trying.

As you go through your day today, think about your goal, write it down, and sign it.

Today’s the day!

About Scott Livengood

Scott Livengood is the owner and CEO of Dewey’s Bakery, Inc., a commercial wholesale bakery with a respected national brand of ultra premium cookies and crackers.

Previously, Scott worked at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts for 27 years, starting as a trainee in 1977. He was appointed President of the company in 1992, then CEO and Chairman of the Board.

Scott has served on numerous boards including the Carter Center, the Calloway School of Business and the Babcock School of Management, Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County, and the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce.

He started a new business, StoryWork International, in 2016 with Richard Stone. The signature achievement to date is LivingStories, a story-based program for improved patient experiences and outcomes in partnership with Novant Health.